
Qass. 
Book. 



rr 



,"373 



tt^ 




Cause of the Rehellion : or, What Killed Mr. Line 




A DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN THE 



First Congregational Church in Niagara Ctty^ 



IN HONOR OP 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



APRIL SOth., 1865 



REY. B. F. BRADFORD, 



Published, by Request, 




B UFFJILO: 
A. M. CLAPP & GO'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE 

OFFICE OF THE MORNING EXPRESS. 

186 5. 




The Cause of the RehdUon : or, '^liat Killed Mr. Lincoln. 



A DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN THE 



FiTst Congregational Church in Niagara City., 



IN HONOR OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



APRIL SOth, 1S65. 



REY. B. r. BRADFORD, 



Pu.TDlish.ed. "by Ileq.nest. 



B UFFJILO: 
A. M. CLAPP & GO'S STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 

OFFICK OF THE MORNING EXPEE.SS. 

18 6 5. 



8 



(^axx(^^i>niiii\xit. 



Suspension Bridge, April 20lh, 1865. 
To the Rev. B. F. Bradford, Pastor of the Cong. Church : 

We, the subscribers to the following petition, having listened with 
pleasure to the discourse delivered by you, on the occasion of the funeral 
of the lamented Chief Magistrate of our nation, and deeming it woithy 
of a careful second perusal, respectfully request that you furnish us with 
a copy of the same, that we may have it printed in pamphlet. 

None of the subscribers, as you will see, are members of your Church, 
but all are your well-wishers. 

Eespectfully Yours, &c. 

GEO. E. BROCK, 
GEO. S. HAYNES, 
\VM. M. SHERWOOD, 
JAS. SOMIT, 
FRANK ROOT, 
JAS. M. CONNEL, 
WM. D. BATES, 
WM. CAER. 




Messrs. Brock, Haynes, and others : 

Gentlemen :— My Discourse delivered in honor of our beloved and 
martyred chieftain, was written in great haste, and without the remotest 
idea of its ever again beholding the light. It was designed to meet the ob- 
ject of that occasion, and also that of the following day as we merged them. 
It has many defects, but contains what I believe to be substantially the 
truth. If you think it will subserve the cause of Christian patriotit-m, I 
shall cheeifully furnish you a copy, having the utmost confidence in your 
judgment and your consistent and enlightened patriotism. 



Respectfully, 



B. F. BRADFORD. 



NiAG.\RA City, April 26, 1865. 



mhxt §nUA p«. §hmh. 



" ITnoio ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen 
this day ?" 2 Samuel iii. 38. 

These words fell from the lips of David. A brave man, by 
whose valor, wisdom and sagacity, Israel IjjiiKiften been res- 
cued from the clutch of malicious foes, I^B had been striken 
down by the hand of the assassin. 

The King is overwhelmed with grief. He calls upon the 
nobles and the masses of the people to cloth themselves in the 
habiliments of mourning. The reason rendered for this Na- 
tional demonstration of sorrow is, that a prince and a great 
man had flillen in Israel. 

These words of David, together with the deep sorrow that 
overwhelmed the masses of the Hebrew people, well represent 
the cause and propriety of the irrepressible grief of this great 
nation, weeping over the untimely death of its beloved Presi- 
dent. Almost the entire loyal citizenship of the nation had 
begun to feel that Providence had raised him up to conduct us 
through this terrible ordeal. His frank, transparent honesty, 
his unbending integrity, his intuitive sagacity to solve intricate 
national problems, together with his unassumed massive dig- 
nity, his gentleness of spirit and great kindness of heart, had 
compelled confidence, and gave all a sense of assurance, that 
our national interests were safe in his hands ; while these emi- 
nent personal qualities rendered him a noble representative of a 
great Republic, of a free government, and of a mighty and 
progressive people. 



THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION ; OR, 



But alas ! alas ! how is the mighty fallen, and the loved, 
and the venerated, laid low in death. From the height of 
gladness under the inspiration of joyful tidings, the nation has 
been plunged into the deepest grief When we were looking 
for still higher joy, behold sorrow ; for the harbinger of peace, 
behold a cry; for a return of tranquillity, behold murder the 
most foul and most horrible. When we thought we saw the 
bright bow of promise spanning the dark horizon that had en- 
veloped us for the last four years, then, lo, the mid-night pall 
gathers, so that instead of joyful thanks-giving, we are to wrap 
ourselves in the sable habiliments of hnnentation and mourn- 
ing. The event is unprecedented in our history as a nation. 
How humiliating that the President of these United States — 
one of the most enlightened nations, should be shot down as 
though he were the usurper of a throne; also, that the sick- 
chamber of the Secretary of State should be invaded, and the 
murderous dagger thj»ce thrust into his enfeebled body by the 
hand of the steal tt^ assassin, as though he were the accom- 
plice of a tyrant and a usurper. No wonder that the whole 
nation is electrified with horror from city to hamlet, and that 
strong men bow in tears. From our stand point as a people, 
and our degree of progress and law-abiding habits, the crime 
stands forth upon the historic page without a parallel. 

Yes, fellow-citizens, our loved President is gone ; his last 
work is accomplished, and long ere this, near a half million of 
brave martyrs of liberty, have hailed in the spirit-land their 
Chief, amid peaceful scenes, beyond the tramp of armies, the 
shock of battle, or the murderous assassin's power. 

But why, let me ask, has Abraham Lincoln been maliciously 
striken down in the midst of his years and his usefulness, and 
when to human view, the best interests of his country de- 
manded his labors, counsels and example ? 

I answer, he had in the providence of God, become the re. 
presentative of the great American idea — as God meant it, 
as the Fathers understood it. The ball, therefore, that sund- 
ered the subtle thread that bound soul and body together, was 
not expressive simply of personal revenge, but was expressive 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 



of a chronic hate of those grand principles wliich found an in- 
carnation in liis noble character and administration. 

Our land has been rocked with the thunders of war, and 
deluged with fraternal blood for the last four years. This war 
was waged by the South; it was commenced by maliciously 
shooting d(jwn the American flag that was peacefully floatintr 
over Fort Sumter. 

But what was the object of the South in opening this mur. 
derous tragedy 1 Had the national government wronged 
them, or oppressed them, or allowed them to be robbed of 
their rights'? Let the great Georgia statesman, the Webster 
of the South, answer this question, before the poisoned chalice 
of secession had been pressed to his lips. lie says: "This 
step once taken can never be recalled ; and all the baleful and 
withering consequences that must follow, vvill rest on the con- 
vention for all coming time. When we and our posterity 
shall see our lovely South desolated by the demon of war, 
which this act of yours will inevitably call forth, when our 
green fields of waving harvests shall be trodden down by the 
murderous fiery car of war sweeping over our land, our tem- 
ples of justice laid in ashes, and all the horrors and desolations of 
war are upon us, who but this convention will be held responsible 
for it ; and who but he that shall cast his vote for this unwise 
measure, shall be held accountable for this suicidal act, by the 
present generation, and cursed and exerated by prosperity for 
all coming time. Pause, I entreat you, and consider a mo- 
ment, what reason can you give that will even satisfy your- 
selves in your calmer moments, or to your fellow-sufferers in 
the calamity that it will bring upon us, or what reason can 
you give the nation to justify it? What one overt act can 
you name on which to rest a plea for justification? What 
right has the North assailed 1 What interest of the South 
has been invaded? What justice has been denied? What 
claim founded in justice and right has been withheld? Can 
cither of you name one governmental act of wrong deliber- 
ately and purposely done by the government at Wash- 
ington of which the South has a right to complain? / chal- 
lenge the answer. On the other hand, let me show facts of 



THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION; OR. 



which I wish you to judge, which are clear and undeniable, 
and which now stand as authentic records in the history of our 
country. When we of the South demanded the importation 
of Africans for the cultivation of our lands, did they not yield 
the right for twenty yeirs? When we asked a three-fifths 
representation in Congress for our slaves, was it not granted ? 
When we asked for the return of fugitive slaves, was not a 
provision incorporated in the constitution, and again ratified 
and strengthened in the fugitive slave law of 1850? Do you 
say that in many instances this compact has been violated 1 
As individual and local communities they have done so, but 
not by the sanction of government, for that has always been 
true to Southern interests. When we asked that more terri- 
tory should be added, that we might spread the instituti'U of 
slavery, they yielded to our demand in giving us Louisiana, 
Florida and Texas, out of which four states have been carved, 
and out of which four more may be carved in due time, if you 
do not by this impolitic act, destroy this last hope, and by it 
loose all and have your last slave wrenched from you by a 
stern military rule, and by a vindictive degree of universal 
emancipation, which may be reasonably expected to follow. 

Gentlemen, what have we to gain by this proposed change 
of our relations to the general government? We have always 
had control of it, and can yet, if we remain as we have been. 
A majority of the Presidents have been choosen from the 
South, as well as the control and management of those choosen 
frorrt the North. We have had sixty years of Southern Presi- 
dents to their twenty -four. Of Judges of the Supreme Court, we 
have had eighteen from the South, and but eleven from the 
North; although nearly four-fifths of the judicial business has 
arisen from the free States. This we have required as a guard 
against any interpretation of the constitution unfavorable to 
us. In choosing Presidents (pro tern) of the Senate, we have 
had twenty-four to their eleven. We have had twenty-three 
Speakers of the House to the North twelve, while the majority 
of the Representatives have always been from the North, be. 
cause of their greater population ; yet we have so managed 
as generally to secure the Speaker, because he, to a great ex- 



■WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 



tent, shapes and controls the legislation of the country. Nor 
have we had less contrcl in every other department of the 
general government. We have had fourteen Attorney Gen- 
erals while the North has had five. We have had eighty-six 
foreign ministers while the North has had but fifty-four ; and 
three-fourths of the business which demand diplomatic agents 
are clearl}' from the free States, and yet, we have had the 
principal Embassies, so as to secure the world's market for 
our cotton, tobacco and sugar on the best possible terms. We 
also have had a vast majority of the higher offices both in the 
army and navy, M'hile a large proportion of the soldiers and 
sailors were from the North. Equally so has it been wilh 
clerks, auditors and comptrollers filling the executive depart- 
ment for the last fifty years; of the three thousand thus em- 
ployed, more than two-thirds have been from the South, while 
we have but one-third of the white population. Look at an- 
other item, that of the revenue, and be assured it is of vital 
interest as a means of supporting the government. Official 
documents show that more than three-fourths of all the revenue 
by which the government has been sustained and the officers 
paid, has been raised from the North. Pause now while you 
can and consider these important items. 

But leaving out of view the countless millions of dollars you 
must spend in a war with the North, and the tens of thousands 
of your sons and brothers slain and offiired up as sacrifices up- 
on the altar of your ambition — rnd for what? Is it to 
overthrow the government established by our common 
ancestry, cemented by their sweat and blood and founded on 
the broad principles of right, justice and humanity? It has 
ever been regarded by the greatest statesmen and noblest 
patriots, both in this and other lands, as the freest government, 
the most equal in rights, the most just in its decisions, the 
most lenient in its measures, and the most inspiring in its 
principles to elevate the race of any that the sun of heaven has 
ever shown upon. 

Now for you to attempt to overthrow such a government 
as this, under which we have lived for more than three-fourths 
of a century, and under which we have gained our wealth and 



THE CAUSE OF THK REBELLION I 



Standing as a nation, and our donnestic safety while the ele- 
ments of peril were around us, with peace and tranquillity ac- 
companied with unbounded prosperity and rights unassailed — 
is the height of madness, folly and wickedness, to which I can 
neither lend my sanction nor my vote." 

The question, therefore, in view of the foregoing extract, re- 
turns with accumulated force, what was the object of the South 
in waging this fratricidal, bloody conflict. Let it be answered 
by the pens and in the language of leading Southern men. 

Said the Rev. Dr. Smylie, of South Carolina, " there can 
never be peace in the United States till that damnable Red- 
Republican lie, the Declaration of Independence, is blotted 
from our statute books." 

Said another : the fathers, in founding the American gov- 
ernment, based it upon the civil equality of all men, claiming 
that in creation all men are endowed by their creator with the 
inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
But our new government is exactly the opposite. Its corner- 
stone rests upon the great truth that slavery is the normal 
condition of the negro. Our 7iew government is the first in 
the history of the world founded on this great moral truth. 
In the conflict thus far the development of this truth has been 
slow, but success has been on our side. I cannot doubt its ul- 
timate success and full recognition throughout the civilized 
world. This was the stone which was rejected by the first 
builders, but has become the chief of the corner in our new 
edifica 

Fellow citizens, the slavery of the African was but the enter- 
ing wedge toward the ultimate purpose of the leaders in this 
rebellion. 

Said the Richmond Whiff — "The experiment of universal 
liberty has failed. The evils of a free society are insuilbrable. 
It is everywhere demoralizing and insurrectionary. Policy 
and humanity forbid its extension to coming generations^ 
Free society must finally give place to slave society, a social 
state as old as the world and as universal as man." But what 
do the South mean by a slave society? Let Howell Cobb 
answer. There is, perhaps, no solution of the great problem 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 



of reconciling the interest of labor and capital, so as to pro- 
tect each from encroachment upon the other, so simple as 
slavery. By making the laborer himself capital, the conflict 
ceases and the interests become identical. 

Says Governor Hammond, of South Carolina — " All forms 
of civilized and well ordered society contain two essential 
elements, the laboring and the ruling classes. We find our 
servile class in the negro, he is our property. You of the 
North find your servile class in the laboring whites ; these 
sustain the same relaUa:s to social and civil society as do our 
negroes; they are the mudsills. But while we ovm our la- 
borers, at the North, they are your equals, your constituents, 
your masters on whom you are dependent for q^ce and posi- 
tion. 

Said the Richmond Examiner, — ^'Free society ? we sicken 
at the name. What is it but a conglomeration of greasy 
mechanics, filthy operatives, small-fisted farmers and moon- 
struck theorists. All the Northern states are devoid of so- 
ciety for a well bred gentleman. 

The prevailing class one meets with is that of mechanics 
stru"clin<r to be "eenteel, of small farmers who do their own 
drudgery, but who are hardly fit associates for a gentleman's 
body servant. This is your free society ! We have got to 
hating everything with the prefix free, up and down through 
the whole catalogue. Free farms, free labor, free society, free 
children, free schools, all of which belong to the damnable 
brood of isms. But the worst of all these abominations, is 
the modern system o^ free schools. These have been the pro. 
lific cause of the treasons and infidelities that have turned the 
cities of the North in Sodams and Gomorrahs, and her land in_ 
to nestling places of howling bedlamities. We hate that sys. 
tern of schools because it is free^ 

Here, then, we have drawn out by Southern pens, boldly 
and distinctly, the iiltimate object of the leaders of this mur- 
derous rebellion. It is a crusade against humanity, Christian 
liberty and Christian civilization. The determii ed purpose 
from the beginning has been to blot out the immortal Declara- 
tion of American Independence, and to found a government 

2 



on a barbarous despotism, and to introduce that heathenish 
social state in which, all who labor, should be reduced to chat- 
tel-hood and capital own the laborer. This was the doctrine 
boldly advocated by the Richmond papers as early as 1854. 
They then said, that hitherto, they had advocated a false theory. 
Thoy had always thought that slavery should be confined to 
complexion, but now they believed that it should be confined 
to labor: that all dependent upon labor ought to be slaves, 
whether while or black. 

This condition to which the South would reduce all who 
labor is the closest aproximation to the brute of which a human 
being is capable. The statute says, the slave owes f'bedience 
without bounds; that he is in the hands of his master to all 
intents, purposes and constructions whatsoever; that he cannot 
own anything nor possess anything. Hence slaves can have 
no home, no family, no marriage, no parent, no child, no 
brother, no sister, indeed, nothing above a beast, fiom the 
dawn of life to its cloudy going down. He is forbidden to 
cultivate his intellect or to enlighten in any true sense his 
soul, for the law makes it a crime punishable with fines, stripes 
and imprisonment to instruct a slave in the alphabet or to 
teach him to read the Word of God. 

This is the social, civil and religious condition to which the 
leaders of this rebellion would have reduced all who labor, 
had they been succesbfiil. My farmer friend, with your fitly 
one hundred or two hundred acres, what do you think of the 
millennium promised by the leading spirits of this rebellion 1 
Would }ou, because you "do your own drudgery," relish the 
marvelous felicity of being the slave of a southern nabob? 
And you, friend mechanic, who now dwell in your tasteful cot- 
tage, enjoying comfort, competence and prosperity, surrounded 
with an interesting family group, how would you be pleased 
with the wonderful exaltation to the dignified office of a body 
servant to Jefferson Davis, Henry Wise or John C. Brecken- 
ridge? How would you relish the sight of beholding your 
wife upon the auction block, under the gaze of coarse ruffian 
men, and your daughter bid off to become an inmate of a 
New Orleans brothel? And yet this is the very millennium 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 11 



promised in this rebellion. It only required a divided North 
and a successful South to have ushered this heathen paradise 
with all its eflulgence and glory. Let capital own labor, let 
the laborer become a chattel, and this sundering of families 
will be as fully and sorrowfully realized in the circumstances 
of the while slave as it ever has been with the black. 

" Breathes there a man with soul so dead who never to him- 
self hath said" — that the object of the rebellion is base, atheistic 
and heathenish? 

If such there bo, go mark him well ; 
For him no minstrels raptures swell ; 
Hi^h though his titk8,^ijroud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; 
Despite those titles, power, and pelf, 
The wretch concentred all in self, 
Living shall forfeit fair renown, 
And, doubly dying, shall go down 
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, 
Unwept, uuhonored and unsung. 

Over against this Southern, sectional, heathenish Idea stands 
in bold and sublime contrast the American Idea of man, society 
and government as revealed through the Word of God. This 
American Christian Idea represents every intelligent moral 
being as a child of God, as a member of the human brother- 
hood, as the co-equal heir wiih all men to all created good. It 
claims that the green'earth, the free "air and the golden sun- 
light, is bv the bequest of the Creator the common inheritance 
of the entire race. This Idea regards civil government as one 
of the institutions of revealed religion, whose chief office is to 
protect man in his divinely conferred rights to life, to his lib- 
erty, to himself, to the cultivation of his faculties, to the avails 
of his labor, to worship according to the dictates of an enlight- 
ened conscience, and to encourage him to become as exalted 
and noble as his capacity will allow. 

To plant, develop and nourish this most noble and divine 
Idea, God called out some of the purest, wisest and most intelli- 
gent Christians from the kingdoms of the old world and trans- 
planted them in the virgin soil of the new. The atmosphere, 



12 THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION; OR, 

the soil and the surroundings were congenial, and the seed 
though small at first, even as the mustard seed, took root and 
sprang up and has become a magnificent tree, and is destined 
to become a shelter to the wrong and crushed from all the 
earth. Some of its fruits are already seen in the general intel- 
ligence of the people, in their social refinements, in their good 
order and law-abiding habits, and in their material wealth, 
enterprise and comforts, and in their Christian benevolence 
manifested in their literary and charitable institutions ; indeed, 
in all that exalts, dignifies and blesses humanity, the like of 
which can nowhere be found on earth to the extent they are 
enjoyed in the Eastern, Middle and Western States. 

Fellow citizens, I need not tell you that this American 
Christian Idea is directly the opposite of that Southern, heathen 
Idea. All can see without an effort that their respective ele- 
ments are naturally antagonistic, and that they develop char- 
acters, states of society and forms of government that must of 
necessity be ever in external conflict. As well attempt to ob- 
literate the line of deraarkation between midnight and noon- 
day, as well attempt to unite the congenial wedlock immortal- 
ity and death, as to attempt a practical harmony between two 
systems, the one degrading man so far as possible to a beast, 
robbing him of all manly dignity and extorting all manly 
aspirings, while the other exalts manhood, and inbreaths the 
divine nature, and raises him to a plane but a little lower than 
the angels. The cne is from heaven, and, therefore, attracts 
all toward the divine; the other is from the infernal regions 
and of necessity carries all downward. The Prince of dark- 
ness is the author and foster-father of the principles and the 
enterprise on the one side, while Jesus is the author, teacher 
and leader on the other. The effort of the powers on the one 
side, is to transform man into an incarnate demon and the 
earth into a literal hell ; on the other, to raise man to the 
highest possible degree of holiness and to re-clothe the earth 
with Eden purity and peace. 

It is the " irrepressible conflict" between these great Ideas 
that has caused all the upheavals in nations, governments and 
churches since time began. As the one has gained the 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 



13 



ascendency the race has sunken into heathenism, govcrnmentg 
have become despotic, and the laborer has been reduced to 
chattel-hood. As the other has gained influence man has been 
enobled, governments have become just, labor has been hon- 
ored, while purity and happiness have been multiplied and 
extended. ^ 

There was a period when Judas was the visible head and 
incarnation of this great Idea on one side, while Jesus repre- 
sented it on the other. Then there came a time when Luther 
was the representative of the one Idea and the Pope of Rome 
the other. A few centuries roll by and Washington becojnea 
the exponent of the Idea on the one side, and the English 
crown on the other. But in our day, Abraham Lincoln became 
the incarnation and visible representative of the great Christian 
Idea at Washington, while the Heathenish Idea was represented 
by JefTerson Davis at Richmond. But when the base purposes 
of Davis were circumvented by the farreaching sagacity of 
Grant, and when his power was crushed beneath the tread of 
our invincible army of the Potomac, and when this representa- 
tive of the devil was compelled to flee to save his neck from a 
well-earned halter, the Prince of darkness, in his mad despera- 
tion to save the waning cause of heathenism on this continent 
raised up and especially inspired John Wilkes Booth with 
plenary power to perform the last grand master-pieca of hell 
in the murder of Abraham Lincoln. That he was a fitting 
successor of Davis, that he well represented the spirit of his 
infernal master in this terrible conflict, and was an incarnation 
of the ultimate purpose of the rebellion is palpable upon the 
face of his horrid crime. The only conceivable reason, why 
Lincoln had become the object of Southern hate was, he had 
become the living embodiment and the visible representative 
of the great American and Christian Idea, in J^is " irrepressi- 
ble conflict" between Christ and Satan, between Christian jus- 
tice and heathenism, for the civil control of the United States. 
When the enemy of all good had been fairly overwhelmed with 
defeat in the open field, true to his ancient charactei', he enters 
into a human reptile, and in the most stealthy serpentine way 
murdered the noble representative of impartial Christian liber- 



14 



THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION: OR, 



ty ; wliich liberty it was the intent of the rtbellion to crush 
out completely. 

My hearers, if I am correct in the view presented, then we 
have the cause of this bloody strife. 

It is not the result of abolition preaching, but is the out- 
growth of the conflicL^rinciples. It comes from the fact that 
Christ is breal<ing up the strongholds of Satan, in order to raise 
the nation to a higher Christian plan. 

A siniilar and mighty conflict is in process of preparation in 
Italy. The throne of the Roman usurper is trembling, and the 
day is being hastened, when that anti-christ shall cease to per- 
vert God's truth, and loose his influence over the masses now 
held in spiritual bondage ; when his sceptre shall depart and 
fall broken to the earth under the march of Omnipotent truth. 
The time is not far when the seven-hilled city shall be illumined 
by the light of an Apostolic faith, and blessed with the light of 
an Apostolic church, whose influence sh'\ll be a living rebuke 
to all forms of heresy, error, and despotism, and when the 
halls of the Vatican shall echo with the notes of a pure gospel. 

A bloodless conflict has been successfully prosecuted in Rus- 
sia in breaking up that unchristian semi-slave system of serf- 
dom, and tlso in the introduction of a constitutional form of 
government. 

The c<niflict in this nation, which has for four years rocked 
its deep fuundations, sending to untimely graves near a half- 
million of its sons, and wasting a thousand millions of treasury, 
has resulted from the same cause, and tends toward the same 
end, viz: a practical realization in civil relations of the Chris- 
tian idea of the brotherhood of man. It ought to have been 
bloodless here as in Russia; but the heathenism of slavery- 
had so thoroughly demoralized us, that we had not virtue 
^ ^^^,,^cnough to raise%| to the sublime attitude of right doing, un- 
less compelled b^stern military necessity. How lamentable, 
that learned men, and even bishops and clergymen, should 
bring forth Bible defences of a system that outrages every 
precept of the decalogue, and trampled under unhallowed feet 
the most sacred institution of Chi'istianity. How shameful to 
sustain a system which reduces to brutehood a race in the most 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 



Christian portion of the earth, when at the same time, the same 
race in another land, have a well administered Republican form 
of government with presidents, senators, judges, lawyers, bish- 
ops, deacons, churches, and colleges with learned professors who 
are of unmixed native blood. But the prayers of these out- 
raged ones had ascended to heaven, and the counsels of Eternal 
Equity had sent forth the degree to blot this relic of heathen- 
ism froni the American Continent. Neither Jefferson Davis 
nor Abraham Lincoln were the originators of this strife; but 
having by their own election become the incarnation of 
these antagonistic ideas, were by foroe ot circumstances, or by 
Providence, thrown out prominently upon the surface of the 
conflict. God in Christ is the author and responsible cause of 
this conflict. It is the result of his Eternal purpose, formed in 
the fathomless counsels of wisdom and mercy to restore the 
race to the dominion of justice, purity, and benevolence. This 
conquering Gospel will continue to move onward with con- 
stantly accumulating mnjesty and power, till all that is opposed 
to the law of love shall be destroyed, and the earth be filled 
with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters fill ihe channels 
of the mighty deep. No created p^wer can prevent this glo. 
rious consummation. Ah ! when yoffcan by l.iying your hand 
upon the mouth of the volcano smother the belching fires ; 
when with a word, you can command into obedience the sea, 
so that under the fury of the tempest it cease to lash the serf- 
eaten shore, when you can bind in the tops of the trees, tho 
winds that rock them in summer and that sigh dirges through 
their leafless blanches in winter, when you can compel the 
glowing sun to halt in his journey in the gilded West, and the 
blushing moon in the silvery East, when in short you shall 
exterminate every copy of the Bible, and banish the Holy 
Ghost Irom the hearts of men, and obliterate the line of de- 
markation between right and wrong, then, anci not till then, can 
any finite power cause peace on earth. This ccniflict*~Will, 
therefore, continue to rage among human institutions, till gov- 
ernments and churches, and all forms of human society, shall 
be founded in justice, and in practice, shall recognize the Fa- 
therhood of God and brotherhood of man. 



We see, also, where is to be found our only true and safe 
position; and what especially the leading work of ministers. 

All institutions not based upon the law of T^ove, and that do 
not practically recognize the Fatherhood of God and the bro- 
therhood of man, whether of governments, churches, or other 
associations, will be swept away when the Gospel shall fully 
triumph, if not during the progress of the mighty conflict. 

It is, therefore, evidently the duty of the Christian minister, 
to expound clearly this eternal law of justice, righteousness 
and truth, in its applications to civil governments, churches, 
and to all forms of human associations, maxims, and customs, 
that men may see, that the curse of God rests upon any asso- 
ciation that does not recognize, respect, and protect all men in 
their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Min- 
ters should make men see and feel, that they cannot be Chris- 
tians in one relation and at the same time sinners in another; 
that they cannot be the servants of Christ m church relations, 
and of the devil in political relations. That man onl^, is, or 
can be an in'elligent Christian, whose acts, positions, and pur- 
poses, are based upon, and controlled by the law of Love. 

Shame on that minister*, who with pious, pharisaical cant, 
refuses to apply God's law to national sins which like slavery 
crushes out the manhood of four millions bearing God's image, 
because some atheistical demagogue would charge him with 
"preaching politics." Such ministers belong to the school of 
the " Priest and Levite," who seeing a brother mangled and 
robbed, " pass by on th? other side." God says, " the nation 
that will not serve him shall perish, yea, those nations shall be 
utterly wasted." " He that ruleth over men must be just, 
ruling in the lear of God." Paul was a true minister, and, 
therefore, pure from the blood of all men, because he shunned 
not to declare all the counsel of God. Every man in the light 
of eternal truth, can see where he is, and what position he oc- 
cupic'TlTl' ll'l'l's conflict. If he preach, pray and act in all rela- 
tions, with a direct purpose to bring all where they can enjoy 
the blessings of a Christian manhood, such a manhood as he 
desires for himself, then, ho is co-operating with Chr!st; if not, 
he is against Christ ; and has yet to learn the a//?/iaici' of Chris- 
lion disciploship. 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 



17 



And, finally, we see the utter folly of any man, or of any 
association of men, in any attempt to carry any enterprise, not 
in keeping with the law and purposes of God. 

History is full of illustratiDns upon this point. 

Hanian thought to wreak the vengeance of his envy upon 
Mordecai, but how signal his defeat and how complete his ruin. 

The enemies of Christ, expected to banish the influence of his 
teachings from the earth by his crucifixion; but in this they 
fulfilled prophesy, and established his claims to the Messiah- 
ship ; while his resurrection whelmed them in confusion, and 
rendered the triumph of his doctrines complete. 

The tyra'.its of the old world thought to crush out civil and 
religious liberty by persecution ; but God just at the right 
time brought to light the nev/ world, opened a pathway through 
the sea for his faithful ones, and has made the rock-bound val- 
leys of New England, — the cradle of the most enlarged Christian 
liberty — the hated foe and dread of tyrants. 

A few years since, the slaveholders being annoyed by the 
presence of the free people of color, conceived the very wise 
and prudent project of colonizing them on the Coast of Liberia. 
The result is, that a vigorous Republic has sprung up, and has 
been recognized by all the great powers of the earth ; and has 
be; ome a living refutation of the falsehood, that the African is 
incapable of self government, of self-support and of a dignified 
Christian manhood. 

The leading spirits of the South being more in love with a 
despotism, than our Christian style of government, resolved to 
break up our confederacy, and to introduce a civil state in which 
every laborer should be eternally a slave. Their first step was 
to throw a fire-brand iuto the Charleston Convention, which 
they intended should result in the election of Lincoln. This 
election they seized upon, under the plea of sectionalism, as a 
pretext for secession. The war burst upon us and has raged 
with desolating fury. The result is, their land is fUa^JMiacl as 
if swept by the fiery sirocco ; their country filled with the 
dead and populated with widows and orphans; their govern- 
ment is completely bankrupt; their slaves have become free 
and have been arrayed in the field against them ; and were the 



cit^jis:^, 



18 



THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION; OR, 



'\ 



first to take possession of Charleston and Richmond, and will, 
doubtless, guard these rebel leaders in their march to the very 
gallows, where these same leaders a few years since, held in- 
fernal carnival over the execution of the crazed John Brown. 

How true that God causeth the wrath of man to praise him, 
by furthering his purposes of justice, mercy and truth ! 

We, at the North, have been chastized and humbled. The 
balance in this conflict, has been held by an unseen hand in an 
apparent equipoise, till the North was educated up to the point 
of obedience to let the oppressed go free, when God clothed 
them with the strength of a giant, and enabled them to throw 
their antagonist with crushing force ; paralyzing his energies 
beyond the power to rally, and rendering through the loyal 
North, the triumph of Christian liberty complete. 

My hearers, the recoil of this last dastardly, desperate act O/. 
the slave-power in murdering our noble, lenient and loved Chief 
Magistrate, will be overwhelming; it will result in its total 
annihilation. It developes distinctly and unmistakably the 
dark spirit and purpose that instigated the rebellion, that 
starved our brothers in loathsome prisons, that mangled their 
dead bodies; that sported with their pains in the agonies of 
death; that fired our cities; and that murdered unoffending 
citizens, because loyal to the flag of tiieir fathers. All now see 
that the spirit of the rebellion is to rule or ruin, to subdue or 
murder whatever opposes slavery. The loyal people, to day^ 
forget party lines and stand as mourners at the bier of their 
murdered Chief. From this day, there will be but one senti. 
ment respecting the inherent heathenisms of the slave system. 
All will see that any apology for it will be to justify the rebel- 
lion ; the murder of the half-million slain in battle ; and the 
assassin of Lincoln ; for slatery has done it all ; had there 
been no slavery, these things would not have occurred. Hence- 
forth, unconditional surrender will be the only terms thought 
xof iiwwi^-Mirnd for the deluded masses f f the South, while the 
vengeance of the law will be demanded upon the heads of their 
treasonable leaders. Who knows but God permitted the re- 
moval of the lenient Lincoln, that the chair of state might be 
filled by the sterner Johnson, Jind that these heaven daring 



WHAT KILLED MR. LINCOLN. 19 



crimes might not be passed over without marked example. 
Johnson is a man from the South, he knows these leaders, the 
iron has entered his soul ; he has sulFered in person, heart 
and estate ; and his little finger will be heavier than Lincoln's 
whole hand. 

We sometimes feel while reading respecting the cannibalisms 
of the South, to adopt the prayers of the Old Testament Saints, 
and ask that these crimes may render their memories a hissing 
and a bye-word through all time, and that the fires of hell may 
prey upon them throughout eternity. But it is not Christian 
to take counsel from our grieved, injured, and indignant pas- 
sions. Let us rather study the prayer of the murdered and 
dying Redeemer. Let us aspire to that moral dignity of soul 
that ennobled Lincoln, and rendered him the greatest and most 
marked man of the aged and that immortalized him through all 
time. lie triumphantly led us through the most perilous 
scenes, it will be safe to follow in his illustrious footsteps. 
Like him, let us ask Divine guidance ; and like him be trustful, 
firm, obetiicnt, and inflexible in our adhesion to justice. God 
will vindicate his own cause, and will overwhelm the enemies 
of truth, and deliver his own children. 

The name of Lincoln, though he was of humble birth, will 
go down to posterity among the most illustrious and honored. 
His noble deeds will class him with our beloved Washington. 
Both were representative men in the battles of Christian free- 
dom. 

He has a monument more enduring than brass in the hearts 
of an appreciative people. He needs no marble to perpetuate 
his fame. He will live in history enrolled with the martyrs of 
liberty. The common people from whom he sprang, and for 
whom he labored, and with whom he was identified, and who 
placed him in power, together with the emancipated African 
whose manhood he has restored, will guard his name with 
sleepless vigilance, and will point their posterity to his..g;-ave 
as the shrine of American freedom. May he ];e the last, 
though the most renowned of that army of fallen victims, to 
consummate the work of expiration for the nation's guilt. 

In the midst of our patriotic, and chastened grief, let us not 



20 THE CAUSE OF THE REBELLION ; OR, 

fail to manifest due gratitude to that benign Providence, who 
gave him, and who has protected him so long surrounded by 
assassins thirsting for his life. Let us thank God also for noble 
generals, for brave armies, for triumphant victories, for national 
repentance, and for a speedy, just and lasting peace. 

We are a century in advance to-day as a nation, in moral 
progress, in Christian civilization, and in all that enhances human 
nobleness and human happiness, to what we were four years 
since. We are now enjoying the culmination of all civil, so- 
cial, scientific, and religious progress since time began. The 
blood of Lincoln, together with the unburied thousands whose 
bones are bleaching on the battlefield, or who moulder in un- 
known graves, will enrich the soil in which has been planted the 
tree of Christian liberty. Its trunk will hencsforlh rapidly ex- 
pand, its branches extend, its foliage gather freshness, and its 
top will peer beyond the clouds, till it shall stand forth in mag- 
nificent proportions, casting a shadow over the earth, and aflbrd- 
ing a shelter under which the crushed of all nations may take 
refuge ; rendering our loved country the home of freedom and 
asylum for the oppressed, where humanity shall be regarded 
the most sacred thing on earth ; and where all shall enjoy all 
the rights of a dignified manhood, with none to molest or make 
afraid. Thus cleansed, and purified, and with statutes in keep- 
ing with God's law, and Christianly administered, our govern, 
ment may continue to flourish till the millennial morn shall 
burst upon a regenerated earth with all its magnificence and 
ineffable glory, and when a disenthralled race shall break forth 
in joyful acclaim : '■ AUeluah, the Lord God Omnipotent reign- 
eth." 

God hath a noblo destiny for thee, our native land, 

The champion of the cause of right for ever she shall stand. 

Far in the distant future's light America I see, 

Chid in the shining vestments bright of sacred liberty ; 

Bearing alolt the glorious Hag, each star undimmed as yet, 

By foul rebellion's traitor hand, whose blood her sword has wet. 

We stand within the dawning light that breaks above her head 

And gilds with glory ever bright our maitijred Chieftain's bed. 

Then let a swelling shout go up and spread from sea to sea 

Thank God, our home, America, our native land is free. 



S '12 



